Name: Daniele Mana aka Mana
Nationality: Italian
Occupation: Producer, composer
Recent release: Mana and Pedro Vian's Cascades is out via Modern Obscure.
Recommendations: Philipp K Dick – Ubik; Ursula K Le Guin - The Left Hand Of Darkness  

[Read our Pedro Vian interview]

If you enjoyed this interview with Mana and would like to find out more, visit his official website. He is also on Instagram, and twitter.



When did you start writing/producing/playing music and what or who were your early passions and influences? What was it about music and/or sound that drew you to it?

I first started playing with beats on Acid (a DAW that now reminds me of a proto version of Live) when I was about 15 years old. I was listening to a lot rap and hop hop from the US and my idol was RZA .

When I listen to music, I see shapes, objects and colours. What happens in your body when you're listening and how does it influence your approach to creativity?

Some sounds and timbres can literally give me physical pleasure. For example, deep basses and pretty specific percussion can make my body move.

I think my creativity works in between the stomach and the brain as two distinctive entities: one more thoughtful that feeds on intricate melodies and harmonies. And the other a more animalistic and primordial side that needs to be grounded.

How would you describe your development as an artist in terms of interests and challenges, searching for a personal voice, as well as breakthroughs?

As a Rollercoaster. Or like this clip from this famous Italian comedy. 

Tell me a bit about your sense of identity and how it influences both your preferences as a listener and your creativity as an artist, please.

I’m very proud of who I am.

I believe that the uniqueness of the human nature is the most interesting thing and I stubbornly work to transmit that through my music.

What, would you say, are the key ideas behind your approach to music and art?

Freedom, new solutions and being real to my history.

How would you describe your views on topics like originality and innovation versus perfection and timelessness in music? Are you interested in a “music of the future” or “continuing a tradition”?

I’m interested in music with ‘’personality.”

I don’t believe in trends. I think that the only way to stay timeless is to be true to myself and not adapt to what’s the hottest thing.

Over the course of your development, what have been your most important instruments and tools - and what are the most promising strategies for working with them?

Definitely my computer.

Take us through a day in your life, from a possible morning routine through to your work, please.

Wake Up - Coffee
Work Out - Coffee
Lunch - Coffee
Break - Coffee

In between I work on music and try to make a living out of my passions.

Could you describe your creative process on the basis of a piece, live performance or album that's particularly dear to you, please?

I don’t think my creative process repeats itself very often. Most of the time I don’t know what I’m going to do or what the piece I’m beginning to work on is going to sound like.

There are too many factors and elements that can disturb my main idea and I feel like listening to all of them.

Listening can be both a solitary and a communal activity. Likewise, creating music can be private or collaborative. Can you talk about your preferences in this regard and how these constellations influence creative results?

Listening to or making music alone or with someone else are totally different experiences and I love both.

In the case of Cascades, making music with Pedro felt very natural. We recorded the album in 3 days, simply improvising together and building a new and unexpected sound together.

Something like this can only come about from the unique chemistry between two humans.  

How do your work and your creativity relate to the world and what is the role of music in society?

I think artists feel like and antenna while making music - or at least I do. I feel like energies and feelings coming from the outside are passing through me and what I do is just interpreting them and translating them into my own language.

Art can be a way of dealing with the big topics in life: Life, loss, death, love, pain, and many more. In which way and on which occasions has music – both your own or that of others - contributed to your understanding of these questions?

It’s a very personal question and I’m a very private person. I can say music helped me a lot to deal with myself and the world.

How do you see the connection between music and science and what can these two fields reveal about each other?  

Music is connected to everything and everything is connected to it. As is every art form.

Creativity can reach many different corners of our lives. Do you feel as though writing or performing a piece of music is inherently different from something like making a great cup of coffee? What do you express through music that you couldn't or wouldn't in more 'mundane' tasks?

I think that through music I express the same feelings I do while I cook a good dish or any other creative field.

Probably in more mundane tasks, I wouldn’t express who I am .

Music is vibration in the air, captured by our ear drums. From your perspective as a creator and listener, do you have an explanation how it able to transmit such diverse and potentially deep messages?

Mm no. I don’t think I can explain it.